About the listing process

The Anti-Terrorism Act provides measures for the Government of Canada to create a list of entities that:

• have knowingly carried out, attempted to carry out, participated in or facilitated a terrorist activity
• knowingly acted on behalf of, at the direction of or in association with an entity that has knowingly carried out, attempted to carry out, participated in or facilitated a terrorist activity

How it works

The legislation provides for the Governor in Council to establish by regulation a list on which, on the recommendation of the Minister of Public Safety, any entity may be placed.

The process of listing begins with criminal and/or security intelligence reports on an entity disclosing the reasonable grounds to believe that the entity has knowingly carried out, attempted to carry out, participated in or facilitated a terrorist activity; or the entity has knowingly acted on behalf of, at the direction of or in association with, an entity involved in a terrorist activity. Entity is defined in the Criminal Code as a person, group, trust, partnership or fund or an unincorporated association or organization.

The criminal and/or security intelligence reports are submitted to the Minister of Public Safety for consideration. If the Minister has reasonable grounds to believe that the above test is met, the Minister may make a recommendation to the Governor in Council to place the entity on the list.

If the Governor in Council is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the above test has been met, then the entity may be placed on the list of entities. The listing of an entity is published in the Canada Gazette and on this website under Currently listed entities.

To ensure the list remains current, the Minister of Public Safety must periodically review each listed entity to determine whether they continue to meet the threshold for listing. The National Security Act amended the Criminal Code to modify the statutory review period. All entities listed as of June 21, 2019, the date on which the new provisions came into force, must be reviewed within five years of that date. All entities added after June 21, 2019, must be reviewed within five years of the date they were listed. Subsequently, each listed entity must be reviewed within five years of its most recent review.

Date modified:

2021-06-25